Fan Studies Network North America Conference 2025 (virtual)
October 23-26, 2025
REPUTATION: Influence, Power, and Capital
FSNNA Annual Conference 2025
When fan studies first emerged as an undisciplined discipline, fandom was more of a niche activity whose practices (and even existence) still had to be explained to a general readership. Today though, fandom is a widely recognized phenomenon, a frame of reference for popular culture, and a desirable market demographic for new cultural products like music, films, and games. These broader cultural shifts are often mirrored within fandom itself: experienced fans observe that multifandom peers move from interest to interest faster, while new fans might enter fandom(s) without any knowledge of community norms.
As participation in fandom has broadened, changing fan experiences and fan cultures, many reckon with questions about what it means to be in fandom and to be a fan today. While most seem to embrace and accept the idea that fandom can be fun, there’s a shared sense that it is also so much more. But what does that entail? Is fandom a form of activism? Slacktivism? Representation? Social justice work? Moral stance? Popularity contest? Some combination thereof?
As we consider the shifting understandings and reputations of fandom(s), fan studies has much to offer. Who holds the most influence? Who wields what kinds of power? How do social, subcultural, and financial capital intersect with grassroots activity and forms of production? And how does all of this change fandom in turn?
As this conference enters its eighth year, FSNNA invites proposals exploring these avenues into fandom and fan studies. We are especially interested in work that considers how fan communities, activities, and works interact or engage with the reputation of fandom itself – for better, for worse, or for both.
Submissions for the 2025 FSNNA Conference
Fan Studies Network North America (FSNNA) warmly welcomes submissions from early career researchers, graduate students, and independent scholars, as well as established scholars. (This year, we’re also offering a track specifically for undergraduate students: check out the parallel cfp HERE!) Contributions are welcomed from across disciplines, not just fan studies: we are interested in work from media studies, the humanities, the social sciences, library science, and more.
Some topics that we hope to see submissions for include (but are not limited to!):
- Capital and fandom participation: financial/economic capital, social capital, cultural capital, etc.
- Influence in fandom: parasocial relationships, BNFs, microcelebrities,
- Power in fandom: politics, policing, gatekeeping; who speaks, creates, listens, learns
- Having a platform: platform migration, features, community roles, moderation
- Intersectional identities: fans, fan-creators, performers, authors, actors
- Antagonisms and Fandom: the changing language and nature of “anti-fandom”
- Fandom during crisis: in continuing “post-Covid” era, during rise of global fascism, during online platform precarity
- Internal and external perceptions of fandom: media representations, stigmatization, celebration, misinformation
This work may focus on specific media texts (e.g., film, television, print texts/series, games, video streaming, etc.) or other fan-objects (e.g., sports, music, celebrity culture, etc.). Alternatively, it may consider specific national or regional contexts, theoretical approaches to studying fandom, investigations of fanwork genres or fan practices, and more.
Format of the 2025 Conference
FSNNA 2025 is once again a discussion-focused online conference with accessibility, interdisciplinarity, and global participation at its heart. However, based on participant feedback from previous years, we are moving towards a format that allows for longer conference presentations of roughly 10-15 minutes apiece. Essentially, you can choose one of two options.
- Presentation Track (Roundtable Talk + Poster)
Participants on the presentation track will be grouped into roundtables based on overlapping objects, approaches, methods, or themes. Each presenter will have an opportunity to introduce themselves and explore their work for 10-15 minutes, followed by a moderated discussion and Q&A with the audience.
Participants will also prepare a digital poster summarizing their research contribution. (More specific guidelines about poster formats will be available after submissions are evaluated.)
- Poster Track (Poster ONLY)
Participants on the poster track will prepare a digital poster summarizing their research contribution. They will not be assigned to a roundtable or introduce their work during a talk.
All posters from both tracks will be available asynchronously throughout the conference in our Discord server, where attendees can post questions and share feedback.
PLEASE NOTE: As part of your application, you will be asked to stipulate which track you are applying for – presentations or poster only. Likewise, once a submission is accepted, the participation format cannot be changed (i.e., you cannot move from poster only to presentation, or vice versa).
As in past years, we also welcome the submission of pre-constituted roundtables, which are a group of 3-5 talks that are already organized around a shared topic, text, and/or method. Please note, however, that participants in a pre-constituted roundtable must still contribute posters.
Submissions are due by Friday, May 16.
Submission Details
Ready to submit your work for FSNNA 2025? Here’s what the application form will ask for:
- An abstract of ~300 words (include a clear explanation of your research, methods, and the project’s relevance to fan studies and fan studies scholars)
- 3-5 keywords about your poster (may include topics, texts, theories, methods, etc.)
- A bibliography of 3–5 references
- A biographical statement (~50 words)
Get Ready for the 2025 Conference!
We’re excited to consider your work for the 2025 FSNNA conference! We also encourage you to check out a new offering this year: a parallel cfp for undergraduates interested in presenting their fan studies work at FSNNA.
Still have a question? Please feel free to contact us at fsnna.conference@gmail.com.
Ready to submit your work? Visit our submission form HERE
(Or if the link above doesn’t work, copy and paste this into your browser: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdtiTvsJS6_dIOdAGyfjeVM-_i7QGwOhi3ICmLHfWfRYRrlGA/viewform?usp=sharing)